"WE ARE THE VANGUARD OF HONOUR. THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE BLOOD ANGELS. WE BRING DEATH." The legendary Space Hulk returns to Windows PC, Mac and Linux in this epic turn based strategy game. Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an intriguing story of legendary battles and heroic actions unfolds.

Recommended By Curators

Reviews

“I really think they’ve nailed it – both the strategy and the feel, retaining what makes Space Hulk Space Hulk while convincingly turning it into a videogame, not a mere boardgame made from pixels.”
Rock Paper Shotgun

“In every significant way, it looks and feels like the board game I remember from back in the day, fleshed out to match the Warhammer 40K vibe we’ve experienced in other games.”
Venturebeat

“Full Control has recreated the board game in almost perfect detail, from the design on the hulk’s floors to the individually-named First Chapter Blood Angel Terminators of the Sin of Damnation campaign.”
PC Gamer

About This Game

"WE ARE THE VANGUARD OF HONOUR. THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE BLOOD ANGELS. WE BRING DEATH."

The legendary Space Hulk returns to Windows PC, Mac and Linux in this epic turn based strategy game. Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, an intriguing story of legendary battles and heroic actions unfolds. Play as a small squad of fearless Space Marine Terminators who attempt to reclaim their honor by mounting an assault on a derelict space hulk infested by hordes of vicious tyranid Genestealers.

Take control of the Adeptus Astartes of the Blood Angel chapter and guide them towards glory, while battling fierce Xenos and uncovering ancient relics in the infested confines of the massive Space Hulk named “Sin of Damnation”.

The game is a 3D digital turn based strategy game that recreates the classic claustrophobic board game experience in both singleplayer and multiplayer.

Customers purchasing Space Hulk will receive a free copy of the Deathwing Terminator DLC for Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance by Eutechnyx

Key Features:

The first Space Hulk computer game in 17 years! Available on multiple platforms.

Set in the hugely popular Warhammer 40,000 universe! Official license of the legendary boardgame from Games Workshop.

Turn-based tactical strategy game! Based on the popular and iconic board game mechanics.

First, let me make something very clear that every other review has probably done already: This is NOT like Xcom. This is, quite literally, a digital version of the classic board-game of the same name, which was made by the lovely chaps at Games Workshop ages ago. What does that mean for you?

- It means NO customization. Units come equipped "as is". That's it.

- "Slower" gameplay (Tactical Dreadnaught Armour is heavy). Game speed can be adjusted to make it play faster, however.

- An emphasis on what limited resource actions you have, and doing what you can with them. Thus adding to the general "survival" aspect of the game, which is very fun actually.

- Unlike Xcom, this is a straight up, old-school ranged (marines) VS. melee (aliens) fight. You CAN go into melee and hope the Emperor grants you favor in such dire situations. However, your xenos enemies are masters of close combat and generally win the trade off, even against your own melee specialists. But again, it's quite fun to try and succeed at it.

- No health bars. You either survive an attack, or you don't. This makes games faster and more direct, which is a good thing since health bars would make each game last longer than it should.

- Unlike Xcom, you have very limited combat actions. No elevation bonus, can't climb ladders, etc.. Just you, the flat surface, and the xenos filth before you. Fire away and hope it works!

All of this makes Space Hulk a very good game actually, just for different reasons. However, people jumping into this title thinking it's another Xcom clone will become sad pandas very quickly. This is NOT even close to Xcom's depth.

However once more, people who want a "simpler" turn based game LIKE Xcom that they can just hop into, without all the freaking variables and near-endless, headache-inducing customization and combat will indeed enjoy this title. Always remember that this is essentially a digital version of the board game, and not much more at all. Simple as that. But it is beautiful in its simplicity, as you'll soon find.

Honestly? A solid title. Full Control set out to make a PC version of the board game point-for-point, and succeeded near flawlessly. It's not Xcom, but it wasn't trying to be anyway. It's just itself. And that is indeed good enough. Maybe not for everyone, but then again Xcom isn't for everyone either.

If you wish for a more Xcom-like version of this title, Space Hulk: Ascension is more like what we all kinda hoped for in the first place, and is currently available through Steam as well. However, it currently lacks multi-player.

Overall: 4/5. Better graphics/models and voice acting would have been great for this little gem, but I'm not complaining.

Its not a terrible game, I got quite a few hours of enjoyment out of it, but it is horribly flawed as computer games go. I understand that is a straight conversion of a board game and it suffers from the limitations imposed by that. I played it right through to the end, and its the end that ultimately tips this over into a "can't recommend".

Quick list of pros and cons:

Pros:

I enjoyed the tactical challenge of planning your best route to the objective, working out where to place your terminators for maximum advantage and how to get to the objective asap without being eaten.

There were some good missions fighting a tactical retreat to an extraction point.

Flamer throwers - you only get six shots but they are a great tactical unit and actually kill what you aim at (most of the time).

Cons:

If you try to shoot something with the standard bolter you will almost certainly miss unless you are using a chaingun. You only get 4 actions points, you will probably miss every time because genestealers can... duck. I'm guessing the Terminators can't aim lower than a 90 degree angle in those mechanical suits or something. That doesn't explain their inability to hits doors though. Those doors are tricksy buggers.

Chainguns are more likely to hit something, but you only get 10 shots and then you have to reload. If you reload there is a chance your terminator will explode. Yes really. Wtf. These guys have been fighting for 9000 years and have not managed to design a gun that you can change ammo in without blowing up.

Standard bolter guns don't need reloading. They jam instead. I think that they don't need reloading because the Terminator using it is always going to be dead before he runs out of bullets due to his face being eaten while he tries to clear the jam.

Recognising that your standard Terminators can't shoot doors or anything lower than waist height, the braintanks invented a unit with spikey gloves. This guy presumably shot his instructor in basic training and was banned from using guns ever again. Genestealers are close combat enemies, they jump on you, they eat your face. Mr Spikey Gloves is just there to die, tactically speaking he can be thrown out to slow down a genestealer for 1 action point while it digests his nose.

Your squad members have names, but there is no continuity between missions. If they die, they are still there in the next mission, or you might be told that people you carefully preserved were lost in the fight. There is no squad development, they never improve. I kept everyone alive (even Mr Spikey Gloves) through all the missions but the plot didn't recognise this.

The best missions were ones where you have to reach an objective and then fight a retreat to an extraction point. Too many missions were instantly complete when an objective was met. There was no incentive to plan beyond guy A getting to position X. The whole squad could be on the point of being eaten with zero probability of survival but as long as someone got to position X it was mission complete with 5 out of 5 survivors. Sometimes you had to complete a mission with at least 3 terminators getting to an extraction point, and the game would end as soon as 3 were safe. I want to try to rescue all 5, not have the game decide its mission over because 3 got out.

There is no tension - I had Space Hulk on my old Amiga, it was a tense scary game, turning a corner was trouser changing event. This game never takes you by surprise, every enemy is faithfully revealed on the map either as a unit or a blip that could be 1 - 3 units. You know where they are even if you can't kill them.

The ending - this is what really tipped this over into a thumbs down. The end left a really sour taste in my mouth. I thought it was a bug. I finished the 3rd mission of the 3rd "campaign" and instead of the next mission or campaign unlocking, I could only go to the menu. I replayed the mission hoping it was a one off unlock bug, but no, everything still locked. Looked it up on google, and it turns out that was it, game over unless you buy the DLC. The game is SHORT. I played the game, restarting every mission where I lost a man. If I hadn't done that, and there was no reason to, I could have finished the game in a weekend easily. As far as level design goes, there is no excuse for the developers to put together such a short package. The designs are simple and a computer could happily randomly generate them. I can only think that the the voice over guy giving the mission briefing broke their budget.

Space Hulk Ascension sounds like it deals with most of the above points, I'll probably buy that if it comes out cheap in a sale.

02. SETTING: A faithful recreation of the Games Workshop boardgame of the same name set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Two mortal enemies fight to the death on maps that represent floating space hulks; Humanity's defenders - the Space Marines against the vicious alien horde - the Genestealer.

03. STORY/BACKGROUND: In the far future Humanity has reached and conquered the stars. An immortal god-like emperor rules over the vast expanse of human empire that fills the galaxy. Alas there is no peace only war. Numerous alien species fight against each other for dominance and survival. Among these are the Genestealers, alien swarms that use the bodies of other species to procreate their numbers. These parasites move from planet to planet on the captured spacesships of other races. They spread their numbers by traversing the cosmos over 100s & 1000s of years until they are pulled in by the gravity-wells of unfortuate planets on the same flightpath. These spaceships house tens of thousands of aliens. Once detected a chapter of space marines are sent to combat the threat. Space Marines are the genetically enhanced super-soldiers of the emperor, who don the toughest "Terminator" armor and most destructive weapons known to man, in order to stand a chance against such overwhelming numbers. They are the thin line that protects humanity.

04. GAME MODES: The base game contains two singleplayer campaigns totalling 12 missions, each of which can be replayed in multiplayer. Additional dlcs provide 5 mini-campaigns of 21 more missions.

05. GAMEPLAY: Consists of tactical, squad, turn-based combat. One or more squads of five space marines are deployed on missions to complete one or more objectives. Action takes place using IGO-UGO alternating turns. Players issue orders up to the actions points available for each unit. Actions include: movement, shoot, melee attack, psyhic powers, placing marines in overwatch or defensive stance and interacting with doors or mission objects. Missions are not linked so losing marines does not affect starting positions in the next mission. (The spin-off sequel does that.)

06. MECHANICS: All combat successes are determined by die rolls. Squad leaders provide additional action points through a pool of Command Points which can be used to give any marines to augment their actions in a given turn. Though generated at the start of every turn, if a squad leader is still alive they can attempt to re-roll how many command points available at the start of a turn. Understanding Command Points is essential to beating the game as they are needed during the enemy's turn as marine weapons can jam as they are used. If they do Genestealers can overwhelm the affected soldier and kill him easily. Marines must be given the overwatch or defensive stance commands during the players turn in order to re-act during the A.Is turn.

07. A.I: Overall the A.I performs adequately. Though there does not need to be anything too clever to control the enemy aliens as they spawn from fixed locations. All the A.I has to do is close in for the kill and overwhelm the player. However the challenge presented is manifest by the limitation on Space Marine movement and actions. More often than not a marine not in overwatch, defensive stance or with a jammed weapon will die.

08. GRAPHICS: Isometric Fixed/Rotateable 3D, with short action-oriented cutscenes. Space Marine units are well modelled and distinct. The maps and genestealers do look the same however.

09. CONTROLS: Keyboard and/or mouse. Good and functional. All actions can be performed by point & click.

10. SOUNDTRACK & AUDIO: Suitable. Together the add to the overall ambience of the setting. Weapons fire and death cries (from both sides) add to the immersion.

11. VOICE ACTING: The voice-overs provided for the space marines add to the immersion. You can imagine mission briefings being given by a suitably stiff, no nonense genetically enhanced super-soldier from the future. Voice excerpts of marines confirming your orders or during the heat of combat give that feeling that they are human and part of a team.

12. DIFFICULTY: Game played on normal difficulty. Overall the missions are fairly straightforward but making a mistake is unforgiving. Harder mode does not allow saving, unless you quit the game & continue later during a turn. Enemies spawns may have been larger or more frequent but I did not notice that much of a difference. An easy option is available but I did not play this.

13. PLAYTIME: The base game has around 20+ hours worth of gaming if you play through the main campaigns and the other dlc mini-campaigns. This can be extended by replaying missions on other difficulties or in multiplayer. Getting all the in game achievements took me 55hrs but it could take double that and more.

14. PROBLEMS: No problems stability or otherwise were encountered during my playthrough.

15. ACHIEVEMENTS: Most achievements are given for completing missions from the main campaigns. Some are given by completing combat feats using space marines armed with certain weapons. All but one achievement can be gained through one playthrough of the main campaigns. A few others may require playing through the campaign missions repeated or better still playing through the dlc missions. If you fail to gain any achievements you can replay missions that you have beaten at any time.

16. DLC: The DLC on release were expensive but on a sale should be a fairly resonable price. The optional genestealer skins are not required, the Space Wolves chapter replaces the standard space marine units with different soldiers and models providing a totally different experience than in the base game. This is optional but a must have if you wish to replay the game as much as possible. The dlc campaigns however are a must if you want to play more of the same, if harder missions.

17. APPEAL: Will appeal to fans of the franchise or original boardgame. It will also appeal to strategy gamers or grognards who are looking for something a little different in tactical turn-based sub-genre.

18. ENJOYMENT: Very enjoyable if you liked the Space Hulk boardgame given its such a faithful adaptation. Also enjoyable if you dont mind a challenge and dont mind losing against a pretty competant A.I, or if you like short tactical games where the options are limited and missions fairly repetitive.

19. LONGEVITY/REPLAYABILITY: Limited though with dlc less so. Each mission has been designed to be replayable but fixed objectives and maps mean that only the genestealer spawns and attack routes may change. Otherwise only in multiplayer where a human controls the genestealers can there be any replayability that isnt linked to the difficulty level. Space Wolves dlc allows replay of all campaigns with a differently styled and equipped group of soldiers.

20. VALUE FOR MONEY: Fair. The base game is a fair price but given the DLCs are quite expensive I personally would opt for the complete collection or get all items on sale.

VERDICT: Overall for a Full Control game its rather good. Space Hulk is a simple game. It is modelled afterall on a boardgame. Yet the graphics and sound captures the setting perfectly and the spirit of the boardgame very well, at least from what I can remember of my few games playing it. Missions and tactical options may be limited in scope but there is a very enjoyable if somewhat repetitive challenge to be gained from playing through all the missions and then changing to the a different set of soldiers. A solid purchase for any strategy gamer or fan of Warhammer 40K.*

*The spin-off sequel: Space Hulk Acension does the above but with linked missions and RPG elements.

Graphics and sounds are like from the early 2000s, animations awkward, controls quite quirky and some minor issues exist (e.g. the completely useless help button), and still it's a lot of fun to play this game! Space Hulk is a good implementation of the same named board game, and if you like turn based strategy in the 40k universe and a more or less direct successor of the famous Chaos Gate with less options but at least the same tactical depth, I'm recommending Space Hulk for you.

Anyway I would never ever pay more than 10 bucks for this game, so best keep an eye open for sales.

Space Hulk is a pretty good game. Everyone who knows me that my two favorite universes are Lord of the Rings and Warhammer 40k, so I may be a little biased, but I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It's tactically interesting, and it plays well. However, one of its greatest strengths is that it FEELS like a Warhammer 40k game. The universe is, of course, based off of the tabletop miniatures games, and Space Hulk is one of the first Warhammer 40k games I've played that felt like I was playing the tabletop version. That's really rare. Other 40k games, such as Space Marine or Dawn of War, are great in their own right, but Space Hulk manages to capture that special nostalgia I get when playing the tabletop version and digitize it.

That being said, Space Hulk is not a very long game. It took me about five hours to beat. The remaining twenty hours were spent grinding to get 40,000 kills. Yep, 40,000 kills is a /lot/. And the grinding SUCKED. Normally, this would be an instant disqualification from being recommended (40,000 kills?! COME ON!) but because I had lots of fun and enjoyed the atmosphere very much, I'll recommend the game -- with the caveat, however, that if you're achievement hunting, you're gonna have a bad time.